AI can make output soar while human effort shrinks toward zero.

Old yardsticks like size and headcount start to lose their meaning.

The interesting question is where difference goes when the metrics fail.

Indulge me in a little mathematics. Brian Solis and Dave Wright recently introduced the idea of the “Infinite Company,” a provocative way of thinking about organizations built around artificial intelligence (AI). And as a bit of a math geek, I couldn't resist taking this idea down another rabbit hole, and I began to wonder what happens if we take it a little more literally.

When the Denominator Approaches Zero

Typically, we describe AI through the language of exponential change that yields more—more intelligence, greater productivity, expanding capability and capacity. But consider a simple equation where organizational leverage equals output divided by human effort. AI can increase the output while simultaneously reducing the human effort required to produce it. As that denominator gets progressively smaller and approaches zero, the ratio doesn't simply become very large. Mathematically, it begins heading toward infinity. Conceptually a bit abstract, but stay with me.

Of course, no company will operate with literally zero human effort. People (at least for now) still provide intention, judgment, capital, responsibility, and direction, while AI itself requires enormous infrastructure and energy. So maybe the denominator never gets anywhere........

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